I first reported to you about a massive data breach at Uber in a Scam of the day in November of 2017. Unfortunately, the data breach had actually occurred in 2016 and Uber did not disclose that it had suffered the data breach until 2017. Personal information” including names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of 20 million Uber users and employees was stolen. 
There are a number of major problems unique to this data breach, most prominently that the data breach occurred in 2016 and Uber did not publicly disclose that it had occurred until late in 2017.  This is a violation of federal and state laws and regulations.  This week the Federal Trade Commission increased sanctions against Uber for its actions in failing to report the data breach promptly. According to Maureen Ohlhausen, the Chairman of the FTC, “After misleading consumers about its privacy and security practices, Uber compounded its misconduct by failing to inform the Commission that it suffered another data breach in 2016 while the Commission was investigating the company’s strikingly similar 2014 breach.”
TIPS
If you were a Uber user or employee in 2016 you are in jeopardy of identity theft.  Additionally, we do not know precisely how long the data breach actually occurred.  If indeed the information lost was limited to your name, email address and mobile phone number, the biggest threat to you will be from spear phishing emails and text messages that may appear quite legitimate because the come addressed to you by name and may appear to relate to a legitimate purpose.  Clicking on links contained in these emails and text messages puts you at risk of downloading malware that can lead to identity theft or ransomware malware.  As always, the best course of action is to never click on any link, regardless of how legitimate it may appear until you have confirmed that it is legitimate.
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